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Re: [RFI] Pole mounted lightning arresters?

To: RFI List <rfi@contesting.com>
Subject: Re: [RFI] Pole mounted lightning arresters?
From: N4ZR <n4zr@comcast.net>
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 2021 14:35:50 -0500
List-post: <mailto:rfi@contesting.com>
Ah, takes me back.  A few years ago at my old semi-rural location I started having severe RFI.  Turned out to be a lightning arrestor on a pole behind my garage. but here's the fun part - the noise source was one of the two bolts holding the arrestor on to the pole. Woodpeckers had undermined it enough to make it loose, and even though it was not in the HV circuit, apparently the field gradient was such that the bolt and bracket were at different potentials, causing an arc.  Cure was a single-bolt bracket.

73, Pete N4ZR
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On 1/11/2021 2:20 PM, Charles Plunk wrote:
Long Story but will try to keep it to my point. I have triangulated my power line arc to a pole. Fairly typical 3 phase old residential but busy pole. Insulators, disconnects, lightning arresters, a transformer, etc. Pole is a junction as the 3 phase goes off in 3 directions from that pole. Arc is not affected by rain. And I cannot hear it with my ultrasonic dish. In the past I have pinpointed bad hardware on other poles with the dish.

I suspect the lightning arresters. There are 3 on there, one for each phase and I assume very little way I could tell which one. Rural utility, knows little about and/or is not concerned about arc rfi other than past dealings with me and TVA (power distributor who does have rfi location capabilities but is rather difficult to get them out to do).

And now the arc is intermittent. Today its pulsing about every second. Next week it may get solid for a while or go away entirely. And of course if TVA comes out, it will be gone.

What hardware, other than lightning arresters (arcing internally) would not be affected by rain and I could not hear with the dish?

Would it be reasonable enough to ask the util to replace the lightning arresters before bugging TVA?

Any thoughts appreciated.

Thanks,
Chuck
AF4O

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